News 15:00

BULLETIN 27 February 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A Table Mountain cableway disruption leaves 200 tourists stranded overnight
# Zelensky says he is ready to meet Putin
# And soccer: Ellis is confident Banyana will book a final spot in Cosafa’s semi-final today

# Operations at the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway in Cape Town have resumed after a cable car malfunction left nearly 200 visitors stranded overnight in cold and windy conditions. Technicians worked through the night to fix the fault, while staff provided blankets and warm drinks to keep visitors comfortable. By morning, the system was fully operational again, and all stranded passengers were safely transported down without injuries.

# The DA says minister of Water and Sanitation, Pemmy Majodina, has a binary choice on whether to continue to absolve failure or put service delivery first. During his budget speech, Finance minister Enoch Godongwana issued a stern warning to badly-run municipalities to clean up their act or risk budget cuts. The DA’s Stephen Moore says Majodina has been allocated 45.1-billion-rand over the medium-term on infrastructure grants to municipalities:

# The Freedom Front Plus in Gauteng says it has research which could bring about savings of up to three-billion-rand in the 2026/2027 budget, and fully or substantially restore the previous higher subsidy for quintile 5 schools. The research was conducted in collaboration with a senior economist. The FF Plus’s Anton Alberts says the research indicates the reduction in the subsidy for quintile 5 schools will have severe detrimental effects should it remain in place:

Moving abroad: 

# Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky urged the US to tighten sanctions against the families of Russia’s leadership. During an interview with SkyNews, he also urged Washington to provide Ukraine with more advanced weapons, arguing only increased pressure would force Moscow to take negotiations seriously. Zelensky adds he is ready to meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and will do anything to bring about peace. On the question of how close Ukraine is to reaching peace, he says there is a window between now and the American midterm elections in November.

# Soccer: Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis says it’s all systems go in this afternoon’s high stakes COSAFA Women’s Championship semi-final clash against Zimbabwe at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane. She has warned of the added pressure as the two teams seek to be in Sunday’s final against either Namibia or Zambia. Ellis emphasises Zimbabwe is not a team to be under-rated:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 15-rand-91-cents and the euro at 18-rand-78-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-43-cents and Bitcoin trades at 66-thousand-466-dollars. Gold sells at five-thousand-174-dollars-25-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 72-dollars-9-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….